Criteria
The Newbery Medal is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for child. One Award Book is selected each year in January. One or more Honor Books are also awarded, based upon the determinations of the members of the Newbery Medal Award Committee.
History
The Newbery Medal was named for eighteenth-century British bookseller John Newbery.
2006 Newbery Medal and Honor Books
Newbery Medal
Perkins, Lynne Rae. Criss Cross. New York: Greenwillow Books, 2005.
Criss Cross follows the lives of four 14-year-olds in a small town, each at their own crossroads. This ensemble cast explores new thoughts and feelings in their quest to find the meaning of life and love.
Newbery Honor Books
Armstrong, Allan. Whittington. Illustrated by S.D. Schindler. New YOrk: Random House, 2005.
In Whittington, Armstrong creates a glorious barnyard fantasy that seamlessly weaves together three tales: Whittington the cat’s arrival on Bernie’s farm, his retelling of the traditional legend of his 14th-century namesake, and one boy’s struggle to learn to read. These three tales unite the disparate citizens of the barn community in a celebration of oral and written language, the support of friends, the healing power of humor and the triumph of life.
Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow. New York: Scholastic Nonfiction, 2004.
How could the Holocaust have happened? Bartoletti delivers a chilling answer by exploring Hitler’s rise to power through the first-hand experiences of young followers whose adolescent zeal he so successfully exploited and the more extraordinary few who risked certain death in resisting. The meticulously researched volume traces the Hitler Youth movement from the time it formally gathered strength in the early 1930s through the defeat of the Third Reich. The grace and clarity of the writing make Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler’s Shadow a powerful addition to Holocaust literature for children.
Hale, Shannon. Princess Academy. New York: Bloomsbury Children's Books, 2005.
Miri and the other young women of her rocky highland village are forced to leave their close-knit community when the prince must choose a bride in “The Princess Academy.” Like the miri flower, which sprouts from the cracks in the linder rock, Miri soon becomes the strong, resilient and courageous leader of the academy. The book is a fresh approach to the traditional princess story with unexpected plot twists and great emotional resonance.
Woodson, Jacqueline. Show Way. Illustrated by Hudson Talbot. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2005.
“And the children leaned in./And listened real hard.” Jacqueline Woodson’s magnificent poem Show Way tells the story of slavery, emancipation and triumph for each generation of her maternal ancestors. She pays tribute to the creative women who guided their “tall and straight-boned” daughters to courage, self-sufficiency and freedom. Whether with quilts or stories, poems or songs, these women discovered and shared the strength to carry on. “There’s a road, girl./There’s a road.”
*Book descriptions come from ALA-Association for Library Service to Children.
The Newbery Medal is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for child. One Award Book is selected each year in January. One or more Honor Books are also awarded, based upon the determinations of the members of the Newbery Medal Award Committee.